Creel assembly



Dec. 10, 1968 s. FURST 6 CREEL ASSEMBLY Filed May 10, 1966 United States Patent 3,415,463 CREEL ASSEMBLY Stefan Fiirst, Monchen-Gladhach, Germany, asslgnor to Walter Reiners, Monchen-Gladbach, Germany Filed May 10, 1966, Ser. No. 548,934 Claims priority, application Germany, May 22, 1965, R 40,695 4 Claims. (Cl. 242131) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Combination with a beam warper having a thread guiding comb and a multilevel creel for supply coils, each having adjacent thereto a thread tensioning eye from which respective threads of the supply coils extend directly to the comb during warper operation, of a perambulatory thread separator device having a travel path along the creel from the creel side remote from the warper toward the side near the warper. The separator device comprises a thread divider for holding the threads of each creel level at substantially the same height spaced from the heights of the other levels.

My invention relates to yarn or thread creel assemblies.

Creel assemblies are known wherein the thread or yarn of the individual take-up spools such as cheeses or other supply spools are drawn from the thread-tensioning eyes directly to the comb of the warper without having to pass through an eye-bar or the like once again on this path. With a creel assembly of this type it is relatively difficult to locate the exact position of a broken thread following a thread-break, that is to rethread it at the proper location because, as it is known, the drawing of threads from creels follows a specific pattern. The reason for this difliculty is that after the threads are drawn, it is barely possible to distinguish to which level of the spools or coils the individual threads belong. Whereas with creels having additional eye-bars, the threads of the individual levels of the creel coils lie at least substantially parallel to one another, the threads of a creel assembly of the type constructed in accordance with the invention form a straight or somewhat sagging line from the thread-tensioning eyes outwardly to the comb of the warper. Consequently, a thread for example which extends to the warper comb from the spool of the upper creel level located farthest from the warper, lies lower than the thread which comes from the creel level lying thereunder, for example from that spool or cheese on the next lower creel level which is nearest to the warper comb. This disadvantage of the known creel assemblies is avoided by providing one or more additional eye-bars for efiecting parallel disposition of the creel threads. However, this requires a considerable expenditure of time for threading and beaming the threads.

It is accordingly an object of my invention to avoid the aforementioned disadvantage of the known creel as semblies without requiring the addition of auxiliary eyebars and consequently avoiding time loss which would be required for threading and beaming the threads.

With the foregoing and other objects in view I provide in accordance with my invention a solution to this problem by means of which the threads can be extended parallel to one another relatively simply and rapidly. More specifically in accordance with the invention I provide at least one separator member which is perambulatable in a travel path along the creel and which comprises thread divider means for holding the threads of each creel level at substantially the same height spaced from the heights of the other levels. This separator member, which is located at the end of the creel most distant from the warper when ice the threads are first being drawn, is movable toward the front of the creel either during or after the threads are drawn and, accordingly, places the threads substantially parallel to one another directly from the yarn-tensioning eyes to the comb of the warper, without additional expenditure of time or labor.

In my copending application Ser. No. 437,704, filed Mar. 8, 1965, now Patent No. 3,317,979 there is described a creel assembly wherein, in order to draw the threads from the creel to the warper, the threads of the individual vertical rows in the creel array are placed into a thread holder which is located on a transporting device that is able to be run along the creel and up to the comb of the warp beaming machine. A particularly advantageous improvement of this type of creel assembly is provided by the invention of the instant application wherein the thread separator device is connected to the transporting device which carries the thread holder. Thus, when the transporting device and thread holder run along a path between the creel and the beaming machine, the separator device is also moved automatically in a travel path along the creel from the creel side remote from the warper toward the side thereof near to the warper in order to effect distribution of the threads at the different levels in the vicinity of the forwardmost vertical row of spools in the creel array during operation of the machine. With the return motion of the thread-holder transport device so as to draw a new set of threads from the creel spools after, for example, a thread-break or depletion of a spool, the separator device is then simultaneously thrust back to its initial position, for example by a suitable return mechanism or by hand.

Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.

Although the invention is illustrated and described here in as embodied in a creel assembly, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.

The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of a specific embodiment when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic lateral view of a beaming plant comprising a creel and a beam warper with a threadseparating device and thread holder or drawing means constructed in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1 showing only the creel and separating device.

Referring now to the drawings there is shown an array of spools or coils mounted on a creel, the uppermost row of spools being designated as 1, 1a to lg. The threads of all of the spools of the creel are drawn to the comb 15 of the schematically illustrated warped beaming machine 16. Similar to my aforementioned copending application Ser. No. 437,704, filed Mar. 8, 1965, there is provided a thread holder 11 suitably mounted on the movable transporting device 10, the threads of a respective vertical row of the creel array being inserted in the grooves or notches of the thread holder 11. Since the threads or yarns of the individual take-up spools are drawn from the threadtensioning eyes 3, 3a to 3g directly to the comb 15 of the warping machine 16, the two dot-and-dash thread loca tions 2 (FIG. 1) are assumed, for example, by the threads of the uppermost and the lowermost spools of the vertical row 1 in the creel array which is farthest moved from the beam warping machine 16. It is clearly evident that the two threads 2 between the creel and the beam warper 16 can be readily mistaken at their level for the threads 2g so that in the event of a break in a thread it is not readily evident from which horizontal row the broken thread comes.

On the other hand, if in accordance with the invention at least one perambulatory separator device is mounted on a movable wagon 30, for example for displacement along the creel, this separator device, as shown by the drawn lines representing the threads in the figures, can hold all of the threads of the creel coils at each level of the creel substantially at the same height. This separator device 31 can comprise, for example, individual rods 32a to 32g protruding transversely to the extended yarns or threads.

The separator device 31 or its transporting wagon 30 is connected with the transport means for the thread holder 11 by means of a suitably tied rope of cable 33 or the like so that the separator device 31 is automatically drawn along with the transport means 10 as the latter is moved. As shown in FIG. 1, the fixed distance between the separator device 31 and the transporting means 10 maintained by the connecting rope 33 corresponds substantially to the distance between the comb 15 of the warping machine and the creel and prevents the separator device from moving forwardly of the fonwardmost vertical row 1g of the creel coils at which location the separation of the threads at levels spaced substantially the same height from one another is effected during operation of the machine.

A reliable subdivision of the threads is automatically achieved by means of the separating device 31. The seeking of broken yarns is facilitated thereby and entanglement of the threads due to a break is safely avoided. Several perambulatory separator devices can be provided for very long creels, for example one separator device can operate from the end of the creel farthest from the warper to the middle of the creel, whereas another separator device can perambulate from the middle of the creel to the end of the creel closest to the warper. With the return motion of the thread-holder wagon or wagons 10, the permabulatory separator device or devices are then automatically brought back to their original positions at the respective locations of the creel farthermost from the beam warping machine 16. Thus, no additional consumption of time is required for separating the threads at the various creel levels.

I claim:

1. With a beam warper having a thread-guiding comb and a multilevel creel for supply coils each having adjacent thereto a thread-tensioning eye from which respective threads of the supply coils during warper operation extend directly to said comb, the combination of a perambulatory thread separator device having a travel path along said creel from the creel side remote from said warper toward the side near said warper, said device comprising thread divider means for holding said threads of each creel level at substantially the same height spaced from the heights of the other levels.

2. In a combination according to claim 1, said warp thread separator device comprising a wheeled carriage running on said travel path, and said divider means comprising an upright column mounted on said carriage and extending over substantially the height of said creel, and tines extending substantially horizontally from said column at the respective heights of said creel levels for engaging said threads on each level.

3. With a beam warper having a thread-guiding comb and a multilevel creel for supply coils from which respective threads during warper operation extend to said comb, the combination a perambulatory thread separator device having a travel path along said creel from the creel side remote from said warper toward the side near said warper, said device comprising thread divider means for holding said threads of each creel level at substantially the same height spaced from the heights of the other levels, a thread holder for passing the threads from said creel to said warper comb when preparing said creel and said warper for operation, a conveying vehicle for said thread holder, said vehicle having a given travel path from said creel to said comb, and means coupling said thread separator device with said holder vehicle to travel together therewith.

4. With a beam warper having a threadguiding comb and a multilevel creel for supply coils from which respective threads during warper operation extend to said comb, the combination of a perambulatory thread separator device having a travel path along said creel from the creel side remote from said warper toward the side near said warper, said devicecomprising thread divider means for holding said threads of each creel level at substantially the same height spaced from the heights of the other levels, a wheeled carriage running on said travel path, a thread holder for passing the threads from said creel to said warper comb when preparing said creel and said warper for operation, a conveying vehicle for said thread holder, said vehicle having a given travel path from said creel to said comb, and means connecting said vehicle with said carriage so that both travel together with each other, the distance between said thread holder and said thread divider means corresponding substantially to the distance between said comb and said creel.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,529,375 3/1925 Remington 242131.1 3,317,979 5/ 1967 Fiirst 28-32 LEONARD D. CHRISTIAN, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 28-32, 54 

